Two-tier Local Government - Accelerating from the Start - Part 2: Leading by Example

Since the merger, the population has increased, grassroots cadres and civil servants have had to undertake more tasks, and challenges have also increased. Trying to overcome difficulties, many cadres, civil servants, and party members have used their own actions to clearly demonstrate their exemplary behavior.

Let's get to work!

As soon as there was a forecast of storm No. 3 (Wipha) seriously affecting the Northern and North Central provinces, especially from Quang Ninh to Quang Tri, a series of cadres, civil servants, youth, and police in these localities proactively and quickly took action, working side by side with the people to overcome the natural disaster.

As in Hung Yen province, the entire provincial leadership quickly established many delegations to go to communes, especially key areas, to inspect and supplement storm response plans. Hung Yen Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Huu Nghia quickly requested the Department of Agriculture and Environment to take the lead, immediately establishing a Zalo group with the participation of important and relevant members in the area to promptly grasp and direct situations; in the spirit of directing one locality, the remaining localities will use that as experience in management, quickly handling each issue...

“Propaganda - warning - guidance on storm prevention skills; promote propaganda on social networks, Youth Union - Association fanpages and grassroots loudspeaker systems to update information and provide guidance on response skills; release infographics, videos instructing on disaster response skills, lists of necessary items... Whatever we can do to protect people's lives and property, we will try our best to do, no one passively waits to be assigned to do it", a young cadre in A Sao commune (Hung Yen province) shared.

The initiative to "find work" and shorten the gap between the government and the people as in the stories mentioned above has been taking place strongly in all localities.

In June 2025, many residents at Saigon Gateway Apartment (Tang Nhon Phu Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) reported on the many years of problems at the apartment building. After just one message sent to the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City, the situation immediately had positive changes. Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc directed departments and branches to take action and report the results in June 2025. By June 24, the Department of Construction had fully reported on the incident. Although the incident could not be resolved immediately, the above developments showed a clear movement, stemming from the listening and drastic actions of the head of the city government.

Previously, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thanh Nghi also received text messages from residents living in Tan Hong Ngoc apartment building (Tan Phu ward, Ho Chi Minh City) and Vien Ngoc Phuong Nam apartment building (Rach Ong ward, Ho Chi Minh City). In each apartment building, residents have different concerns. The text message sent to the phone, the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee quickly directed the relevant agencies to intervene, urge, and handle the situation urgently and resolutely.

Learn to serve better

After the reorganization, the local government apparatus has undergone major changes in terms of scale, organization, and assignment of tasks. At this time, information technology, digital transformation, and administrative reform requirements have forced many officials and civil servants to relearn many tasks related to the people. Learning is not only to update skills, but also a manifestation of the spirit of service: learning to work better and serve the people faster.

In Tan Hung Ward (HCMC), the implementation of "Tan Hung Ward Q&A Virtual Assistant" on the ChatGPT platform has produced positive results, clearly reflecting the proactive learning spirit of the ward staff. This application helps people easily ask questions and immediately receive answers related to the ward's organization; address, office and operating information of the Public Administration Service Center...

This model is an idea of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Tan Hung ward, deployed immediately after officials and civil servants completed the training course on artificial intelligence application at the end of June 2025.

According to Mr. Khieu Thien Thanh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Tan Hung Ward, the virtual assistant also provides detailed instructions on the process and documents for all administrative procedures under the authority of the ward; supports people in looking up regulations related to organizational structure and neighborhoods. With this application, people can easily access information on administrative procedures 24/7, minimizing direct contact, saving time and effort for people and ward officials.

Youth Union members of Tra Tan commune (Da Nang city) support people in carrying out administrative procedures. Photo: MINH HUY

Tra Doc highland commune (Da Nang city) after merging from Tra Doc commune and Tra Bui commune has an area of 233km², with more than 10,400 people, but the whole commune has up to 48% poor households. The cadres were mobilized from the two previous merged communes and transferred from other places, so their qualifications are uneven.

Mr. Phan Duy Hung, Chairman of Tra Doc Commune People's Committee, shared: To better serve the people, the commune arranged the Public Administration Service Center 2 in the old Tra Bui commune because this area is 30km from the current commune center, and traffic is still difficult. To operate and apply digital transformation, the commune's officials and civil servants work and learn from each other many tasks to serve the people smoothly.

In addition, due to the low level of information technology among local people, many commune officials, in addition to their professional work, also guide people through administrative procedures online when people cannot do it themselves. The commune also set up a fanpage on social networks to answer people's questions, helping to save time and effort for both people and commune officials.

Surrounded by mountains and forests on all sides, Tra Tan Commune (Da Nang City) has 4 villages that have not yet been connected to the national grid, and the phone signal is also unstable. Therefore, it is somewhat difficult for people to access the internet. When the 2-level local government was put into operation, the first thing Tra Tan Commune did was to install free wifi in public places.

Comrade Nguyen Hong Lai, Secretary of the Tra Tan Commune Party Committee, informed: Most of the cadres in Tra Tan Commune are young, so they are very dynamic and creative in applying technology to the working environment. In addition, the commune has established digital technology teams and directed the Youth Union to deploy a youth volunteer team to support public services. This area has a large proportion of ethnic minorities, many elderly people, so they are confused when filling out forms, preparing documents, VNeID accounts, etc. The digital technology teams and union members and youth go to each village to support people, because in many places, if they want to reach the center, they have to travel up to 40km, taking half a day.

The operation of the two-level local government organization model has changed the mindset and role of officials and civil servants at ward and commune levels, requiring each official and civil servant to be more versatile and effective in serving the people and businesses.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra emphasized that each cadre and civil servant, especially at the ward and commune levels, must be multi-tasking, more ethical, more responsible, and have the capacity to serve more practically. To meet the requirements of restructuring and improving the quality of cadres and civil servants, especially retaining competent people in the public sector, heads of provincial and commune-level Party committees and authorities must fully implement the policies and regimes stipulated in relevant decrees. The "revolution" in the arrangement of administrative units will have "sacrifices", losses, and disadvantages. However, cadres and civil servants need to contribute and accept sacrifices for the common goal.

Mr. PHAN TRUNG TUAN, Director of the Department of Local Government (Ministry of Home Affairs):

Receive feedback, recommendations and proposals from local authorities

Commune-level cadres and civil servants perform a large amount of work (most of the tasks previously assigned to the district level), leading to great pressure and somewhat affecting the progress of work settlement. Because some tasks and powers are decentralized for the first time from higher levels (including those previously assigned to the district level), some commune-level local authorities must review legal documents to make appropriate adjustments...

In that context, the Ministry of Home Affairs always maintains the reception of feedback on difficulties, obstacles and recommendations from localities, people and businesses in the process of operating the 2-level local government model. The Ministry of Home Affairs receives feedback, recommendations and proposals from localities through the weekly periodic reporting mechanism sent via the Zalo system and the electronic document system, on the electronic information portal.

The Ministry of Home Affairs will also proactively resolve within its authority or submit to competent authorities for consideration and resolution, ensuring that the process of restructuring the apparatus, organization and operation of local governments at two levels is smooth, stable and on schedule according to the direction of the Central Government.

PV GROUP

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/chinh-quyen-dia-phuong-2-cap-tang-toc-ngay-khi-khoi-dong-bai-2-neu-guong-bang-hanh-dong-post805895.html